Corporate Social Responsibility Commitment Research Articles

Does the Use of Social Media Tools in Classrooms Increase Student Commitment to Corporate Social Responsibility?

There is an increasing demand for ethical and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) practices by companies. This competence has to be introduced in students’ training in business degree programs, and a check must then be done to determine if the students have come to appreciate the importance of CSR commitments. Using the framework of Stakeholders Theory, this work aims to examine students’ perceptions of ethical and CSR practices and commitment to different stakeholders, as well as the factors that lead students to act in a socially responsible way. Furthermore, we hope to identify how the perception of CSR can be improved when Web 2.0 and social media tools that have proven effective in transmitting emotions and values are used in classrooms to teach these ideas. To this end, a survey was carried out in the year 2019 with 1,030 first-year students; it was administered at the beginning of the semester and also at the end of the semester after the training activities had been carried out. The main finding of the research is that students start with the belief that ethics and CSR are developed for reasons of image and legitimacy; however, after receiving training on these topics through tools that take into account emotions and values, they start to value the importance of the company as an agent of social change. The main practical and managerial implication is that methods based on Web 2.0 and social media tools are useful to teach ethics and CSR; the theoretical contribution is that students take into account the welfare of others. This finding contributes to Stakeholder Theory in a higher education context.

Corporate Social Responsibility Perceived by Employees: Latvian Survey Results

There is empirical evidence that business commitment to the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) principles has a direct positive impact on customer loyalty, employees’ performance, and, as a result, on the company’s value. The goal of the current paper is to evaluate the perceived importance of the company’s CSR-related practices from the viewpoint of employees. One hundred nineteen representatives of Latvian companies were surveyed, using the authors’ developed questionnaire consisted of 35 statements. Survey data was processed applying the frequency analysis and the logistic regression method. Most of the respondents (84%) perceive the company’s commitment to CSR principles as necessary. The base on the frequency analysis results, the most important CSR elements from the viewpoint of Latvian employees are paid leaves, consumer interests, and salary. Logistic regression yielded the elements, which contribute the most to the positive perception of CSR: ‘flexible work’, ‘support staff relaxation’ and ‘claims submission system’ within the group’ staff matters’. The measurement scale was tested for reliability and, based on Cronbach alpha results, was accepted as appropriate for use in a cross-country survey. Implications for Central European audience: Despite the high interest in CSR-related issues in academia, the number of published works in Baltic countries is limited. In this particular study, the authors tried to identify — what exactly affects employees’ positive attitude to CSR commitment — the company’s participation in charity programmes or its environmental responsibility, for example? This survey contributed to the theoretical knowledge base about CSR perception among the staff of Latvian companies. In turn, the future survey is planned to be extended, involving respondents from Central and Eastern European countries. This, in turn, will allow making conclusions about the differences in attitude to CSR practices expressed by employees from different countries.

Doing Well by Doing Good? Evidence From Luxury Brands’ Social Responsibility Disclosure and Their Financial Performance

Noting the sparse literature on the corporate social responsibility (CSR) commitments of luxury brands, we focus on the constituents of the S&P Global Luxury Index and their non-luxury peers to examine the impact of CSR disclosure on firms’ financial performance. We find that both luxury and non-luxury firms’ accounting performance improves when their CSR disclosure is moderate but worsens if such CSR disclosure is in the extreme. On the other hand, the effect of CSR disclosure on firms’ market performance is either insignificant or negative. These patterns are more pronounced for non-luxury firms than for luxury firms. By highlighting the different impacts of CSR disclosure (reporting or not reporting) and the disclosure level (how much to report) on luxury brands’ performance, this study enriches the understanding on how luxury firms’ fundamental attributes impact their corporate decisions for CSR commitments and disclosure. The results shed new light on the interplay of CSR disclosure, responsible investing, and luxury brand management.

An investigation of the interrelationship between corporate social responsibility and sustainability in manufacturing organisations: an empirical study

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) and sustainability are considered hot trends in today's modern trade systems. However, there seems to be scarcity in the current literature of empirical studies linking CSR and sustainability applications in manufacturing organisations. This research aims to investigate the interrelationships between sustainability factors (commitment and motivators) and CSR factors (commitment and motivators) and how they affect each other. A survey instrument was developed through which data is collected from 47 food manufacturing organisations functioning in Palestine. The collected data is analysed using the partial least square structural equation modelling technique. The findings of this study suggest that there are strong linkages between CSR factors (commitment and motivators) and sustainability factors (commitment and motivators). The CSR commitment factors have the strongest relationship with corporate social responsibility motivators and sustainability motivators, which indicate that corporate commitment to CSR positively influences the level of corporate sustainable performance.

Corporate Social Responsibility Committee

While CSR and sustainability need to have an important place on the agenda for full board meetings, larger companies typically rely on one or more committees when it comes to allocating specific tasks and tapping into specialized resources and expertise. One approach that is growing in popularity is the creation of public policy/CSR, social and cultural responsibility committees composed of a sub-group of the entire board that is charged with focusing more time and effort on sustainability generally and important topics within sustainability. While other board committees focus on internal controls, financial disclosure and reporting, and the procedures of board and committee activities, CSR committees concentrate on strategies for ensuring that the company is seen as a good “corporate citizen.” A committee of this type is seen as important in light of the downturn in the public’s trust of corporations due to previous accounting scandals and this chapter discusses the scope of the committee’s duties and responsibilities relating to sustainability as well as key procedural details including composition of the committee, meeting procedures, scope of the committee’s duties and responsibilities and evaluation of committee performance.

Do chief sustainability officers and CSR committees influence CSR-related outcomes? A structured literature review based on empirical-quantitative research findings

Although an increasing amount of empirical research has been linked to the impact of management control and governance on corporate social responsibility (CSR) issues since the financial crisis of 2008/09, heterogeneous results have characterised this research field. Regarding the group level of corporate governance, the efficacy of board committees (e.g., audit, compensation or CSR committees) has been included in recent research designs. However, analyses of corporate governance at the individual level are related to the effects of top management members [e.g., chief executive officer (CEO), chief financial officer (CFO) or chief sustainability officer (CSO)] on CSR outcomes. This paper aims to convey a detailed understanding of sustainable management control’s impact as CSR-related board expertise. In more detail, we focus on the influence of both CSR committees and CSOs on three CSR measures mainly analysed in empirical-quantitative research: (1) CSR reporting; (2) CSR assurance (CSRA); and (3) CSR performance. We motivate our analysis with increased relevance from practical, regulatory and research perspectives, and we employ a systematic literature review of the symbolic vs. substantive effects of sustainability-related board composition. Based on our theoretical model (legitimacy theory, stakeholder theory and upper-echelons theory), we selected 48 quantitative peer-reviewed empirical studies on this research topic. Our analysis shows that CSR committees positively influence CSR reporting and performance. Thus, there are indications that the implementation of a CSR committee is not a symbolic act, but instead substantively contributes to CSR activities. However, in light of inconclusive empirical research results and a lack of studies that have analysed CSO-related effects, a notable research gap has been identified. Moreover, we note the main limitations of prior research in this review and develop an agenda with useful recommendations for future studies.

CSR achievement, reporting, and assurance in the energy sector: Does economic development matter?

Drawing on signaling theory and the greenwashing tendency, the objective of this study is to explore the connection among four facets of corporate social responsibility (CSR) practice: CSR performance, CSR reporting, following the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) guidelines in preparing CSR reports, and verifying the reliability of CSR reports through an external assurance statement. The sample of the study includes 2244 firm-year observations of energy firms listed in the Thomson Reuters Eikon database for the period 2012–2018. Panel data analysis with fixed effects is used as the empirical methodology. The findings lend support to signaling theory and reject a greenwashing tendency in the energy sector with the validation of hypothesized relationships. More specifically, higher CSR performers show their CSR commitment by issuing CSR reports as well as by adopting GRI guidelines in their CSR reports and verifying the reliability of the contents of their reports through an external assurance statement. Moreover, GRI framework adopters are more likely to obtain external assurance of their reports. The examination of these relationships considering the economic development levels of countries highlights notable differences: all hypothesized connections are stronger for firms established in middle-income countries than for those in high-income countries except for one dimension.

The impact of board cultural diversity on a firm's commitment toward the sustainability issues of emerging countries: The mediating effect of a CSR committee

AbstractThis study attempts to improve the understanding of how factors related to the board of directors in emerging countries from America determine a firm's sustainability performance. This paper examines the effect of board cultural diversity and the mediating effect of the existence of a corporate social responsibility (CSR) committee. To test our objectives, we carried out a sample analysis on data gathered between 2012 and 2018 from a group of firms located in Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Mexico. The results suggest that board cultural diversity promotes a firm's commitment toward sustainability issues and leads to higher social and environmental performance. Moreover, the results show the mediating effect of the existence of a CSR committee, where a positive impact on sustainability performance appears to be linked to board cultural diversity.

Economic development and CSR assurance: Important drivers for carbon reporting… yet inefficient drivers for carbon management?

This study contributes to the current climate debate by shedding some light on the driving forces of the disclosure and management of carbon emissions in the context of developed and developing economies. Our findings show that the probability of not reporting total carbon emissions is significantly higher in companies located in a developing than in a developed economy. In addition, the company's sustainability profile (the sustainability report, its assurance and the existence of a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) committee), gender diversity policies and other corporate variables (especially size), significantly increase the probability of disclosing total carbon emissions, Scope 1 and Scope 2. Regarding carbon management, however, there are no significant differences between developed and developing economies, and the evidence indicates that the existence of a CSR committee has a significant impact on emission reduction Scope 1 and Scope 2; while the size of the company only influences the reduction of emissions of Scope 2 – the other variables considered do not have a significant effect. The results obtained can be valuable for business executives, governments and government regulators by identifying corporate governance practices that could be improved and contribute strategically to the environmental situation in developed and developing countries.

Explicating firm international corporate social responsibility initiatives

PurposeThe growth of the international business is a new global reality of emerging economy firms. The increasing international footprint of business firms is transpiring into firms being embedded in the nest of the international business landscape. corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives cater to stakeholders. Given this, it is imperative that International CSR (ICSR) initiatives are undertaken for meeting the expectations of international stakeholders. It is important that ICSR is both efficient and effective. The purpose of this paper is to explicate the concept of ICSR in this study.Design/methodology/approachThis is an exploratory study and for this, a qualitative research approach is applied. Based upon the inputs from the literature a semi-structured open-ended questionnaire is prepared. Non-probabilistic purposive snowball sampling is used to identify experts on ICSR. Qualitative in-depth personal interviews are conducted. The qualitative data is collected by in-depth personal interviews with 31 Indian ICSR experts by using a semi-structured open-ended questionnaire. Data collection was stopped after reaching thematic saturation post 31 interviews. The data is thematic and relational content analysed for seeking an answer to the research questions posed.FindingsThe author for explicating ICSR developed a moderated mediation model. The developed moderated mediation model on ICSR is having nine factors, namely – firm ICSR perspective (FICSRP), ICSR practice (ICSRP), CSR planning function (ICSRPF), organisational ICSR commitment (OICSRC), organisational stakeholder inclusivity orientation (OSIO), firm international exposure (FIE), bounded rationality of ICSR practitioners (BRICSRP), ICSR management bounded reliability (ICSRMBR) and nature of ICSR footprint (NICSRF). The author found that “firm outlook”, “CSR planning plus implementation” and “CSR commitment” are the independent variables. While firm “international exposure” and “stakeholder inclusivity orientation” are the mediating variables. CSR bounded “reliability” and “rationality” are moderating variables. The “nature of ICSR” (classified as an island or mixed or extension) is the dependent variable.Research limitations/implicationsThis study is set in the context of internationalisation of the emerging economy firms of India. This qualitative empirical research study developed a moderated mediation model on ICSR. There are nine factors in the model, namely, “firm outlook”, “CSR planning plus implementation” and “CSR commitment” as independent variables, firm “international exposure” and “stakeholder inclusivity orientation” as the mediating variables, CSR bounded “reliability” and “rationality” as moderating variables and the “nature of ICSR” as the dependent variable.Practical implicationsManagers engaging in planning and implementation of ICSR initiatives in various foreign countries could best upon this study findings improve the ICSR delivery. Managers in their firms could improve the “firm outlook” to enhance ICSR, undertake increased “CSR planning plus implementation” and “CSR commitment”. Managers could base upon this study results to improve the moderating conditions of ICSR that is CSR bounded “reliability” and “rationality”. Better firm managers “international exposure” and “stakeholder inclusivity orientation” will better mediate ICSR action. All these would finally help the ICSR managers to better deliver the more effective “nature of ICSR”.Social implicationsA better understanding of ICSR will help foreign managers to develop more efficient and effective foreign CSR initiatives. This will help a better quality of CSR work done in foreign countries. This will help the host country communities and society in general.Originality/valueThis study is one of the first set of studies in the context of ICSR. This qualitative empirical study is also one of the first studies to explicate ICSR through a moderated mediation model consisting of organisational variables such as “firm outlook”, “CSR planning plus implementation” and “CSR commitment” as the independent variables. The ICSR model is composed of the firm “international exposure” and “stakeholder inclusivity orientation” as the mediating variables, CSR bounded “reliability” and “rationality” as moderating variables and the “nature of ICSR” as the dependent variable.

Out of character: CEO political ideology, peer influence, and adoption of CSR executive position by Fortune 500 firms

AbstractResearch SummaryWe consider the link between firms' decisions to adopt a CSR executive position and the political ideology of prior adopter CEOs. We theorize that firms are more likely to adopt a CSR executive position when it has been previously adopted by conservative‐leaning CEOs at other firms, as opposed to liberal‐leaning CEOs. This effect is due, we argue, to the increased perceptual salience and situational attributions associated with ideologically incongruent actions (i.e., actions that appear inconsistent with known political values). We further posit that these effects are stronger when the observing firms experience increased salience of CSR issues due to shareholder pressure and institutional equivalence between the referent and the observing firms. We find support for these ideas in a longitudinal sample of Fortune 500 companies.Managerial SummaryHow do CEOs' values affect industry‐wide appointments of senior executives in charge of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)? Prior research suggests that liberal political beliefs of CEOs predict their CSR commitments. Our study explores how the political beliefs of CEOs—in this case, CEOs who have created a new CSR executive position in their companies—influence the likelihood that peer CEOs will imitate their decisions. Specifically, we find that when conservative CEOs adopt a CSR executive position, other companies are more likely to follow than when liberal‐leaning CEOs do so. These effects are even stronger when companies are experiencing CSR‐related pressure from shareholders and when they belong to the same industry and community as the firms of the CEOs they are observing.

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) in fashion supply chains: A multi-methodological study

This paper examines CSR in fashion supply chains by applying a multi-methodological approach. We first investigate the CSR performance and consumer expectation towards luxury, fast fashion and functional brands through a case study and semi-structure interviews. Then, by building a stylized analytical model, we uncover that it is optimal for the higher-priced fast fashion and functional brands to commit a high CSR commitment with a low advertisement level while the luxury brands should act oppositely. To entice the luxury fashion brand to create a CSR-improving situation, we propose the use of disruptive technologies such as blockchain to help.

Corporate social responsibility, organizational trust and commitment: a moderated mediation model

PurposeDrawing from the deontic justice theory and the social exchange theory, the purpose of this study attempts to identify the relationship between perceived corporate social responsibility (CSR) and employees' affective commitment, mediated through organizational trust. Furthermore, the authors seek to understand how the attitude of employees toward the importance of CSR, moderates the aforementioned relationship.Design/methodology/approachThe respondents for this descriptive study were drawn from a sample of 500 employees working in manufacturing companies in India. Self-reporting questionnaires were administered among the respondents, who were selected through the judgment sampling method. Measurement model analysis was done using IBM AMOS 21.0 and path analytic procedures using PROCESS 3.0 macro was used to test the proposed hypotheses.FindingsResults revealed that there is a significant indirect effect of all three dimensions of CSR on affective commitment, through organizational trust. The conditional indirect effects varied significantly, and it was identified that both employee-CSR and customer-CSR had a significant indirect effect on employee affective commitment. However, social/nonsocial CSR did not have a conditional indirect effect on affective commitment, through attitude toward the importance of CSR and organizational trust.Research limitations/implicationsThe cross-sectional nature of the study does not allow inference of causality and pose limitations for generalization of results. Though the limitation of common method bias is inherent in studies with self-reporting measures, the authors adopted several procedural remedies to minimize its effect. The study results, particularly the role of attitude toward the importance of CSR need to be tested among employees in different industry sectors. Future studies should examine the same theoretical model in different nations, where CSR activities are not mandated by law.Originality/valueThis study is pioneering in conceptualizing and empirically testing a theoretical model that examined the combined influence of perceived CSR, employees' attitude toward the importance of CSR and organizational trust on their affective commitment toward the organization. This study extends the literature by examining the indirect/mechanisms linking CSR and employees' affective commitment. Exploring more on the employee individual differences and its influence on organizational outcomes will definitely improve individual and organizational functioning.

Corporate social responsibility, facets of employee job satisfaction and commitment: the case in Ecuador

PurposeThis paper aims to show the relationships between corporate social responsibility, job satisfaction (in its different facets or aspects) and employee commitment. In addition, the paper aims to identify the mediating role that facets of job satisfaction in the relationship between CSR and worker commitment.Design/methodology/approachThe authors propose a model of relations between the variables indicated and the use of a variance-based structural equation modelling technique to identify the relations in a sample of 318 workers from Ecuadorian companies who answered a questionnaire. Specifically, the partial least squares (PLS) methodology was employed using the Smart PLS software.FindingsThe results and findings of this work confirm the theoretical hypotheses specific to the influence of CSR on the five facets of job satisfaction. On the other hand, it should be stressed that only job satisfaction in itself has positive effects on employee engagement. Furthermore, our study shows that satisfaction with co-workers has a negative effect on commitment. However, this study's most relevant contribution is the consideration of the mediating nature of some aspects of job satisfaction in the relationship between CSR and organisational commitment: positive for job satisfaction itself and negative in the case of satisfaction with co-workers. Therefore, implementing CSR practices can be useful for organisations that wish to foster positive attitudes among their employees.Originality/valueThe work enriches specific knowledge about the relationships between CSR and some employee attitudes and behaviours: commitment and job satisfaction. Of particular relevance is the fact that CSR favourably conditions the commitment of employees through the satisfaction derived from the work itself. The presence of a negative impact of co-worker satisfaction on engagement highlights the need to examine CSR actions that generate adverse impacts on this facet of satisfaction.

The influence of corporate governance on corporate sustainability: new evidence using panel data in the Iberian macroeconomic environment

PurposeIn the macroeconomic environment of the Iberian Peninsula, this paper aims to examine the influence of corporate governance characteristics on corporate sustainability performance. The purpose of this paper is to address corporate practices while determining which corporate governance characteristics can improve corporate sustainability, considering, for this purpose, three dimensions of sustainability: economic, environmental and social.Design/methodology/approachThis sample comprises 99 non-financial companies of the Iberian Peninsula, during the 2013–2017 period. The authors have used the panel data methodology, specifically the generalized method of moments (GMM) estimation method proposed by Arellano and Bover (1995) and Blundell and Bond (1998) to test the hypotheses formulated.FindingsThe results obtained have shown that corporate sustainability performance is affected differently depending on the sustainability dimension that is considered. Specifically, the economic dimension is determined by public debt, the board size, board diversity and the existence of an audit committee. Regarding the environmental dimension, the board size and the presence of the audit committee, as well the corporate social responsibility committee, are the most important determinants. Finally, the social dimension was influenced by the board size, audit committee and the control variable of capital structure, which means that in this dimension, the sources of financing used by the company also help in determining its levels of social concern.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first time that a study has been carried out in the Iberian Peninsula on the corporate sustainability using GMM-system model for three dimensions of sustainability. Corporate sustainability depends on external and internal factors of companies. Therefore, regulators and managers should realize that they will have to be more effective in their statements.

Do Socially Responsible Firms Walk the Talk? CSR Performance and Defined Benefit Pension Policies

This study examines whether socially responsible firms are more likely to have well-funded employee pension programs. It also examines the relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance and management discretionary choice of pension accounting assumptions. Signaling theory suggests that managers use CSR performance as a credible signal of firms’ commitment to engage in socially responsible business practices to the stakeholder. Correspondent inference theory suggests that the stakeholder attributes CSR performance to firms’ reputation of serving the interests of stakeholder. To protect their reputation, firms must take actions that are consistent with the signal they send via firms’ CSR commitment. Maintaining responsible employee pension policies is a socially responsible action because the defined benefit plan is voluntary and employers have to bear greater investment risk and cost associated with the plan than the alternative retirement plan. Using panel data of 13,099 firms-years across 1,428 U.S. firms from 1992 to 2015, this study finds that firms with higher CSR scores are less likely to have underfunded pension and they report higher pension net assets than their counterparts. More socially responsible firms also adopt more responsible (i.e., conservative) pension accounting assumptions (discount rate and rate of compensation increase) to compute estimated pension benefit obligations.

Stories or Expositive Messages? Comparing Their Effectiveness in Corporate Social Responsibility Communication

In the context of corporate social responsibility (CSR) communication, we explore whether consumer perceptions and responses differ when the message content is based on storytelling or exposition. The conceptual model that we propose in the article includes five attributes of CSR message content (i.e., issue importance, CSR impact, CSR motives, CSR fit, and CSR commitment) and their relationships to two types of consumer responses (i.e., purchase and advocacy). We collected data from 444 participants who evaluated the website of a fictitious restaurant chain that included information about its CSR activities using (a) storytelling or (b) expositive CSR messages. The findings suggest that the use of storytelling notably improves perceptions of issue importance, CSR impact, CSR fit, and CSR commitment. On the contrary, the type of CSR message does not differentiate consumer perceptions of corporate CSR motives. The use of storytelling or an expositive CSR message also has a significant impact on the conceptual model, with consumers responding more or less intensively to each attribute of the CSR message content depending on the type of message they are exposed to.

Corporate Social Responsibility Performance, Incentives, and Learning Effects

This paper examines the effectiveness of the use of executive compensation linked to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) goals across US firms. Empirical analysis of a cross-industry sample of 746 listed companies for the period 2002–2013 showed that the use of CSR-linked compensation contracts for Named Executive Officers (NEOs) promotes CSR performance. More specifically, we found that linking NEOs’ compensation to CSR goals produces positive effects in the 3rd year after adoption. As firms accumulate experience and learn how to use the system over the following eight periods, CSR performance increases monotonically. Furthermore, experience accumulated over time affects the different specifications of CSR performance asymmetrically, by reducing both environmental and social CSR concerns and increasing only environmental CSR strengths. Interestingly, we also found that the simultaneous use of other CSR-focused governance systems moderates the effect of a firm’s accumulated experience in using CSR-linked executive compensation on CSR performance: the existence of a CSR committee at the board level and the public release of a CSR report are likely to have a positive moderating effect, while the purchase of a CSR audit has no moderating effect.

Board Characteristics and Corporate Social Responsibility: A Meta-Analytic Investigation

Boards of directors affect corporate strategy and decision-making through monitoring of management and resource provision. Recently, an increasing number of studies have examined the relationships between board characteristics and corporate social responsibility (CSR). These studies have yielded inconsistent findings. This article therefore reports the results of a study applying meta-analytical techniques to a sample of 82 empirical studies to help clarify the relationships between board characteristics and CSR. Although prior research has tended to apply relatively simplistic models investigating the impact of individual board characteristics independently and only directly, we adopt a more complex perspective to shed new light on the board characteristics–CSR nexus. Specifically, we use a meta-analytic path model that accounts for the potential interplay between board characteristics in determining CSR and tests whether the presence of a CSR committee plays a meditating role. Our findings suggest that board size, board independence, and female board representation are partially interrelated with each other and jointly influence CSR directly as well as indirectly via the presence of a CSR committee. In addition, we find that country-level institutional factors act as moderators and that the relationships differ with regard to the specific dimension of CSR (i.e., social, environmental, or aggregate).

Poisoned chalice or opportunity for positive impact? an analysis of the impact of ‘inherited’ corporate social responsibility (CSR) commitments in Kenya's titanium mining industry✰

This paper critically examines the issue of ‘inherited Corporate Social Responsibility’ (CSR) in the mining industry, specifically in the mining of ‘solid’ minerals. It focuses on the case of titanium mining in Kwale County (Kenya), a region plagued with agonising poverty, weak mining policies and laws, issues of historical land injustices, corruption, combined with weak governance. It examines the case of Base Titanium and its CSR activities in Kwale and provides an in-depth analysis of the fate of CSR programmes when mining concerns change hands. This paper follows up on the call for more research into the matter of ‘inherited CSR’ in the mining of ‘solid’ minerals in sub-Saharan Africa. The paper faults the lack of community participation in the choice, prioritisation, design and implementation of the various CSR programmes as the critical missing element that would have otherwise minimised conflict over CSR projects in Kwale.